Data Overload

When did it become normal to check an app to see how you slept?

If you have any type of sleep tracker like a Whoop, OURA, or 8sleep. That’s ones of the first things you look at to see how you slept.

This might seem contradictory to what I’m interested in and the space I work in. But hear me out.

I work at a company that provides continuous data on your blood glucose levels. It can save someones life. I did for me. I have diabetes, so I really do need to check my glucose levels constantly. When I wake up, before I go to sleep, before I eat, after I eat, before a workout, while working out. ALL THE TIME.

I know I’m a data junkie. Heck I’m an engineer by background. But when did everyone feel the need to track every single thing that they consume and inside of their body?

• How many calories did I burn today?

• How many calories did I just eat?

• How’s my REM sleep? Deep sleep? If I didn’t get enough REM sleep my whole day is ruined. Time to take more magnesium I guess?

• What’s my daily strain, should I take it easy or not?

I don’t want my sleep or strain score to dictate the type of day I am going to have. We have gotten to a point where we are now measuring everything and no longer relying on our own ability to check in. There needs to be a balance.

I just cancelled my OURA membership because I no longer am going to let a sleep score dictate how I am going to approach my day, but I am going to keep wearing it so it continues to collect long term retrospective health data.

Here’s what I am going to do instead: make sure I hit 3 daily requirements. I call them my non negotiables:

• Move every morning, break a sweat: Gym, Run, or Yoga

• Minimum of 6.5 hours of Sleep: If I’m feeling extra tired. I just go to bed earlier the next night.

• Minimize or completely eliminate processed foods: If it needs to be refrigerated, its probably good for you.

When I tell people you can solve 90% of your health problem and goals by working out consistently and eating normal food (not trash) they nod their head and agree. But they’re still trying to over optimize every part of their life.

We live in a world where there’s so much biometric data coming our way we’re too worried about optimizing the wrong things.

• Steps

• Calories, fat, carbs

• Time Slept, REM, Deep

• HRV, HR

• Glucose spike deviation

• Track the bacteria in your stool (yes I’m serious)

It’s really easy to get people into the door by saying your can track all these things of theirs. Part of the attraction is there a handful of nerds (like myself) that find the science aspect cool. The rest is they’re just too obsessed with tracking and not actually doing.

Don’t Sweat the Small Things

I’m friends with the one of the founder of Kalos, Harsh Sinha. Kalos is a personal training service that creates customized exercise and nutrition plans using DEXA scans and A/B testing to learn what works best for you.

He started with a client that was interested in health and longevity. He’s been using Oura, Levels, and an Apple Watch to track everything. He got his first DEXA scan and started grilling Harsh about the accuracy of the machine, when it was calibrated last, if she should do intermittent fasting and if he should be eating all his protein closer to bed time rather than front loading it in the morning.

This wasn’t an ex-athlete, olympian, or overweight individual. It was a scrawny guy in tech that was obsessing over the wrong things.

All this person needed to do was just go to the gym consistently and eat clean food. Instead he was worried about his REM sleep and the last time the DEXA scanner was calibrated. But hey, now I’ve got a funny story to share.

All I ask is that you stop focusing on the tiny details. Just focus on doing the simple things consistently and the rest will follow.

(This is my plug to actually use Kalos) They do an incredible job and I think this is the most data driven and straightforward way to create your own fitness and nutrition plans. (I get nothing from this plug)

How to Win in the Health Tech Space

In a world where there’s a data overload, how do you know what’s actually worth using? I believe the winners are going to be products that fall into two categories:

1. Health tools that collect data and then provide personalized + actionable insights

2. Products that help you alter your current “state”

If a product can do both. They’re going to make it. Big

Here’s some examples of ways some businesses are doing that.

Flo

Tracking your period is great. But if you don’t know what to do with that info then that info is worthless. That’s why Flo is worth a billion dollars. They can track their periods, pregnancies, or fertility 👉🏻 thats actionable

OURA

Despite what I said earlier. OURA is a fantastic product. Just not the product for me. You know who their perfect customer is? Women. A ring that can measure your body temperature 24/7 with little-to-np gaps in data can tell you when your period is coming and how fertile you are that day. That’s actionable insights right there. But for me… I do that have type of body.

Fun fact: Oura’s Members are now more than 60% women.

Eight Sleep

Knowing how you slept is great. But what if you can alter how you sleep based off the temperature of your bed? 8Sleep does that.

Another trend I’ve noticed that that this product biases towards men more than women. That’s because I think there’s historically been more ways to warm up during sleep than cool down.

I think most men prefer to sleep cold where women prefer it warm.

Smart Nora

Snore too much? Smart Nora automatically adjusts your head position based on how much you’re snoring.

I just met the founder Berhrouz Hariri. Awesome guy.

Do the simple things right

I think you get it now.

This is the future of health tech. It’s connecting the dots to provide actionable changes. Or creating a product that changes the state of your body.

So, stop trying to over optimize everything. Just do the simple things, really well. Over and over again.

Now, go outside and enjoy your life.

You’re Awesome,

Jared

I Dig So You Don’t Have To

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More than half this set is IDs 🤤

2 IDs:

Gentlemen’s Agreement 🤝🏻

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TikTok Bet Update:

Follower Count.

Ellie: 10K

Me: 7K

I had to to do the 17 mile hike. Ellie is an angel and did it with me.

Next milestone is up for grabs.

I’ve successfully had 3 videos with 18.4K, 21k, and 566k views. This is my chance to leapfrog 🤞🏻

My hooks are getting better. I will no underestimate ellie. She’s a silent killer